Stock markets soar, Trump on “phenomenal” tax policy

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U.S. and Asian stock markets soared on Friday following new comments by newly-elected U.S. President Donald Trump that there will be an announcement shortly on tax policy. Soon after the markets slowed down for a short period of time, then suddenly jumped again on Mr Trump’s pledge that a new tax plan is on its way.

The U.S. President said that there are preparations for reducing the tax levels on local businesses and that within the next two or three weeks there will be an announcement that “will be phenomenal in terms of tax”.

On Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Average index soared by 0.4% and reached 20,221, the S&P 500 also posted gains by 0.3% and climbed to 2,312.26

During his first communication with the Chinese President Xi Jinping on the phone, Mr Trump reassured him that there will be no breach of the “One China” policy. The subject was on the agenda possibly because of Mr Trump’s earlier discussions with Taiwan’s leader Tsai Ing-wen for the first time in almost four decades.

Data released on Friday on Chinese imports and exports by the National Bureau Statistics of China revealed that annualised exports during January increased by 7.9% and showed much improvement from the last month’s decrease of 6.2%. The same report showed that annualised imports during the same month increased by 16.7%. The Chinese Trade Balance remains at a surplus of $51.4 billion as at the end of January. The Shanghai Composite moved with gains of 0.4% and closed the trading week at 3,196.1.

The USD/JPY on Thursday soared by 1.3% whereas by the end of the week it was trading at 113.2015. After the U.S. dollar’s gained against the yen, Japanese exports automatically turned cheaper and that was good news for the local businesses. The Nikkei 225 moved in the opposite direction to the yen with gains of 1.8% during the last two trading sessions and closed at 19,329.

Markets could react to this week’s visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s to the United States and his meeting with the U.S. President. Although there is no information about the meeting’s agenda, there could be discussions about what the U.S. foreign policy might be after its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

On Friday, the U.S. Federal Appeals Court decided to maintain its suspension of the President’s order to disallow entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. It now looks like that the ultimate decision will be given by the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision for immigration ban triggered reactions by a number of politicians and corporations at a global level who raised questions about what is yet to come by the protectionist new administration.

There is still not enough evidence to suggest that the markets could settle in the near future, uncertainty remains at high levels whereas stock markets might continue reacting to Donald Trump’s introductions of new policies.

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